[Dawn] UN leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has called on Sudan to move its troops out of the disputed territory of Abyei after rival South Sudan withdrew its security forces.

Ban called on both governments to fall in line with a UN Security Council deadline to start talks on all their disputes, said UN front man Martin Nesirky in a statement released late Saturday.

"The secretary general welcomes the withdrawal of the South Sudan Police Service from the Abyei area. He strongly urges the government of Sudan to also remove its forces from the area," said Nesirky.

Sudan and South Sudan agreed in June last year that they would move their forces out of Abyei and set up a joint administration in the disputed territory which Khartoum troops seized in May 2011.

Since then South Sudan has formally seceded from the north and growing border tensions have created fears that the two could fight a new all out war.

Two million people died in two decades of north-south civil war up to 2005.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on May 2 giving the two sides two days to halt hostilities, two weeks to start talks under African Union...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... auspices and three months to reach an accord.

Ban "urges the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to resume negotiations under the auspices of the African Union High-Level Panel to resolve the outstanding issues between them," said the front man.

He also said the two sides must activate agreed measures to draw up their border, one of many disputes left hanging over them since their split last year.

The EU's external action service (EEAS) plans to spend up to 50 million on private security guards for its Afghanistan mission over the next four years.

It unveiled the tender on Thursday (10 May), saying the money would be spent on "protection of staff, their families in the country, visitors from headquarters or other EU institutions, the premises and the goods of the EU delegation in Afghanistan."

The contract - valued at between 30 million and 50 million plus VAT - is to cover at least 100 security guards, as well as "mobile patrol teams, equipment [and] armoured cars."

It is aiming to sign up a big company with prior experience in Afghanistan - the winning bidder must have an annual turnover of at least 20 million and 400 staff.

Five companies are eligible to compete - the Hungarian-based Argus, Canada's Gardaworld, British firms G4S and Page Group, and French company Geos - after getting on an EEAS private security shortlist last year.

The tender also stipulates applicants must present "an official document issued from the competent Afghan authority that certifies that the company is entitled to operate security services in Afghanistan" before the contract is signed.

The United States is loosening some of its restrictions on weapons sales to Bahrain, a Persian Gulf ally that has grappled with massive protests pushing for greater democracy. But the U.S. move has upset rights activists, who say the country is still attacking and abusing dissidents.

The U.S. froze its weapons sales to Bahrain in October over human rights concerns. [State Department spokeswoman Victoria]Nuland said the U.S. was still withholding antitank missiles and Humvees, along with certain additional items for the Bahrain Defense Force, stressing that the newly released items are not used for crowd control." The Bahraini crown prince met with U.S. officials this week. Nuland did not specify what would be sold to Bahrain, but Bloomberg News reported that the equipment includes air-to-air missiles and ammunition.

The unrest has left the United States open to accusations that although it has championed other "Arab Spring" uprisings, it has been less aggressive in backing calls for change in Bahrain, a strategic ally. The nonprofit Human Rights First slammed Friday's announcement. Nuland insisted the U.S. was concerned about excessive force by police. We urge all sides to work together to end the violence and refrain from incitement of any kind, including attacks on peaceful protesters or on the Bahraini police, she said.

ARTIC > BARRETT = unlike pre-WW2. where the majority of Austrians supported their country's quasi-union wid Hitler's Nazi Germany, THE SAUDIS MAY NOT ENJOY ANY MASS POPULAR SUPPORT FROM ORDINARY BAHRAINIS, SUNNI OR SHIA, TO INCLUD MANY IN BAHRAIN'S GOVT + ARMY-POLICE???

Taken collectively, IMO the US Navy-DOD is well-aware that Iran would like to control or dominate both or all sides of the Persian Gulf, + isolate or restrict any US-led, anti-NucProg invasion force to the Sea of Oman + beyond where Iran can better employ its LR Air + Missle firepower, Submarines, etc. agz same + keep the US = US-NATO/Allies out of southern Iran.

As per IRAN, it means PAKISTAN'S NUKES-WMDS may be used as part of its defense agz US-led ground invasion. PAKI OR NORTH KOREAN OR OTHER NUCBOMB, ALL IRAN NEEDS IS ONE OR MORE LOW-YIELD NUCBOMBS TO DETONATE INSIDE A US MIL BEACHJEAD ANDOR AIRHEAD CAUSING MASS US, ETAL. MIL CASUALTIES. It only needs a few or handful of Nukes-WDMS that are used well agz US Milfors.

The nervousy twitchy, blame-happy, "Bring the Boyz home now or else" US Congress + Activists-Politicos, MSM, etc. will do the rest for Iran.

Egyptian security forces seized four vehicles transporting unlicensed fuel in the northern Sinai over the weekend. Security officials said the vehicles were carrying 1,640 liters of fuel in 82 tanks for sale on the black market. A driver was detained for investigation, they added.

Last week, security forces confiscated a truck in the Sinai carrying 10 thousand liters of fuel headed to tunnels under the border with Gaza Strip.

Egypt moved in February to shut down fuel deliveries to Gaza via the tunnel smuggling network developed by Hamas - sparking a fuel shortage that caused widespread blackouts. Hamas had long been using the tunnels - used to bring arms and other goods into Gaza - as a means of raising customs revenues on all goods entering the strip.

I could stop it -- just drop a match into the tunnels at the right time. I'd be standing at a distance, mind you...

While fuel is allowed into Gaza via Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, Hamas eschewed such transfers as "prohibitively expensive" despite Israel selling fuel to the enclave at at market rates.

Observers note that tax-revenues from goods that pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing are paid to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah rather than Hamas.

A recent deal between Cairo and Ramallah to build a fuel pipeline into Gaza and upgrade the coastal enclave's sole power plant has also infuriated Hamas. Under the agreement, tariffs generated by the deal will be paid to the Fatah-run PA in Ramallah rather than the Hamas administration in Gaza.

AFP - Israel demolished dozens of Palestinian homes, water cisterns and farm buildings built with European funds in 2011, and over 100 such structures are at risk, aid groups said in a report on Monday.

The figures, compiled by a group of local and international NGOs chaired by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), were published just ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

The Israeli military body in charge of civilian aspects of life in the West Bank says it is obliged to issue demolition orders against structures erected without the required construction permits.

OCHA says that a total of 620 structures in the Israeli-occupied West Bank were torn down in 2011, of which 62 were European-funded.

Of those affected, 600 were in the Area C zone of the occupied West Bank where Israel has full civilian and security control. Twenty of the demolitions were in Area B, where Israel and the Palestinian Authority have joint responsibility.

The Israeli military body in charge of civilian aspects of life in the West Bank says it is obliged to issue demolition orders against structures erected without the required construction permits.

A cute little game: the Europeans build illegally, then whine about the evil Israelis enforcing the law, something the wouldn't dare do at home.

Lebanon's Hezbollah may not want a new war with Israel but an order to attack would come from Tehran in the event of a strike on Iran, a senior military official in Israel's northern command told AFP.

And if the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapses, the resulting unrest could see Al-Qaeda type groups create chaos on the Syrian Golan Heights, he said in an interview conducted on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Any military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would likely spark a deadly response from its ally Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday that its missiles could strike anywhere inside the Jewish state.

But senior military officials do not believe Nasrallah wants another war with Israel and would only attack as a direct result of orders from Tehran.

"The biggest spending of Iran in 30 years has been on the nuclear programme, and Hezbollah is the second," the Israeli official told AFP, adding that Tehran's aim was to create "Iranian footprints near the border with Israel."

"If something would happen in Iran, it's a tool that they can use in all kinds of scenarios," he said.

"They (Iran) have so many high-ranking officials in Lebanon. I don't think this is a decision of Nasrallah -- he will get orders. That's why he was created," said the official.

"If you ask Nasrallah today, he would say 'no' (to a new war with Israel) but I don't think that's his call," he said. "Nasrallah understood the power of Israel and he is still licking his wounds."

He said other scenarios which could spark a new conflict between Israel and Hezbollah include an attack on Israelis abroad or the transfer to Hezbollah of chemical weapons from Syria, which is in the throes of a brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests.

Iran will launch next week an experimental observation satellite, on the day of talks with world powers over its controversial nuclear programme, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

The Fajr satellite will be launched on Khordad 3 (May 23), the director of the Aerospace Industries Mehdi Farahi was quoted as telling.

It will be the fourth satellite sent into space since 2009 by Iran, whose space programme has attracted the concern of international community which is suspecting Tehran is seeking to develop long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying conventional warheads or nuclear ones.

This is the first time that the Islamic republic has announced in advance a date for the launch of a satellite. Previous launches were reported after the operations were successfully undertaken.

[An Nahar] The head of the dissident Free Syrian Army charged in remarks published Sunday that al-Qaeda has links with the powerful airforce intelligence of the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadBefore going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor....

He also held the Syrian regime responsible for Thursday's twin suicide kabooms in Damascus...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... that killed 55 people and maimed 372 and called for an international investigation.

"If the (U.S.) information that al-Qaeda had entered Syria is accurate, the regime alone is responsible for their entry. We know that the al-Qaeda beturbanned goons are linked to the Syrian airforce intelligence," Asaad said.

Asaad also denied claims by Damascus that jihadist and Salafi groups were active in Syria.

Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group unknown before the Syrian revolt, released a video on Saturday claiming responsibility for the attacks as Dire Revenge™ for regime bombing of residential areas in several parts of the country.

But claims by the group, including for past bombings, have been hard to verify.

The main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council, has accused the authorities of resorting to "terrorism" itself in a bid to torpedo a peace plan drafted by U.N. and Arab League...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo....

Asaad stressed that the FSA has so far complied with the plan whereas the regime has committed scores of violations. He said he believes the plan has failed and called for not taking a long time to announce its failure.

Western intelligence agencies believe that al-Qaida doctors have been trained to implant bombs inside the bodies of suicide bombers, Britain's Sunday Times reported.

The doctors, thought to have been trained by a man who worked with the top bomb-maker for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), have the ability to put explosive compounds in breasts and abdomens of suicide bombers, the newspaper reported without citing its sources.

The lead doctor was thought to have been killed in a drone attack earlier this year and likely worked with the master bomber-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, according to the newspaper.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.